Beep kickball event to offer recreation activity for blind ...

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September 24, 2012 2:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH ? When you're blind, a host of daily living aids and services are at hand.

Smartphone apps can scan and read text and store libraries of audiobooks, while organizations such as the New Hampshire Association for the Blind can arrange low-vision exams, volunteer drivers and home visits.

At a glance

New Hampshire Association for the Blind

Contact: Stephanie Hurd, volunteer coordinator

Phone: 224-4039

Web: www.sightcenter.org

Camp Inter-Actions

Contact: Debbie Gross, director

Phone: 228-2803

Web: www.inter-actions.org

Beep Kickball Association

Contact: Judy Byrd

Phone: (770) 317-2035

Web: www.beepkickball.com

Having fun, however, is a harder need to fill.

"Technology and talking books are great, but recreation plays a crucial role in living a full life," said Stephanie Hurd, NHAB's volunteer coordinator and member of its Seacoast Advisory Committee. "Access to sports and outdoor activities is evolving from 'extra' to 'essential.'"

Last month, Hurd introduced 11 NHAB clients to surfing at an AmpSurf clinic in York, Maine.

This coming Saturday, NHAB will host its first recreation clinic on beep kickball ? a sport growing in popularity among the blind and visually impaired. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 29 at Granite State Memorial Field in Portsmouth. The first 90-minute session will introduce beep kickball to kids; the second will give adults an opportunity to try the game.

Beep kickball is modeled on beep baseball. The game uses two bases ? 4-inch high padded cylinders that buzz ? placed along the first and third baselines in foul territory to prevent collisions.

On kicks, a base operator randomly activates one of the bases. The kicker runs toward it and scores if they reach it before the ball is fielded. The defense makes put-outs by fielding the ball, usually on grounders, and holding it up before the runner reaches base. So each at-bat is either a run or an out. Each team has six players; games last six innings. All players, regardless of vision loss, wear blindfolds.

Running the demonstration will be Debbie Gross, director of Inter-Actions, a summer camp for blind children and youth ages 8 to 15 in Georges Mills. Gross introduced beep kickball to her campers this past summer.

"It was a huge hit," she said. "The kids loved it and we played it a lot."

Supplying the kickball was Judy Byrd of Atlanta, Ga. Her husband makes the 10-inch foam balls that house a beeping mechanism. Together the couple has launched the Beep Kickball Association.

"My goal is to give every person who is visually impaired an opportunity to experience being on a team and playing a sport," said Byrd, who will launch a high-school coed league this fall. "That's why I introduced beep kickball, an easy sport to master and play."

According to Byrd, Inter-Actions was one of 25 camps to introduce the game in 2012.

Shelley Proulx, NHAB's vice president for development, said Saturday's beep kickball event reflects how the association continues to evolve to meet the needs of its clients.

"Today, blind people seek out activity and even adventure; they expect inclusion," Proulx said. "By providing access to recreation, NHAB hopes to raise awareness of vision loss ? especially how one can live a full life despite it ? and help blind people forge stronger community connections."

The association, which was founded in 1912, serves 40,000 blind and visually impaired people throughout New Hampshire.

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Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120924-NEWS-209240339

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